08/13/2008 07h52

Large companies’ profitability grows

Valor Econômico – 08/13/2008

The profitability of the thousand greatest companies in the country grew from 15.3% in 2006 to 16.8% in 2007, according to the "Valor 1000" yearbook. The index is the highest ever registered in the entire series of the yearbook, started in 2000, and little above the verified in 2004 (16.6%), when the economy grew above 5%, as in 2007. The total assets have increased 12.3%, which shows the effort in investing, and the net income (R$ 1.37 trillion/US$ 709.8 billion) have grown 14.6% - numbers well above the inflation of 4.46% measured by the IPCA. The general indebtedness (current liabilities on the net equity) fell from 121.4% to 109.6%. Besides the ranking of the thousand largest companies by net revenue, "Valor 1000" points, among them, the 25 best in the sectors of the economy - according to the balance sheets' data. The results of the largest companies reflect the combination of several positive factors, such as the stronger growth of the economy, low inflation, creation of formal jobs, and fall of interest rates. The favorable winds have made the companies increase their investments. For the top thousand companies, such increase reached 11.6%, according to Serasa's figures that, together with FGV/Eaesp, is a partner of Valor in the elaboration of the surveys and in the supervision and application of the criteria of the yearbook. The sectors in which the investments have grown the most were: sugar and alcohol (42.4%), foods (35.9%), iron and steel (33.3%), civil construction and engineering (30.2%) and mechanics (23.5%). As a reflection of those factors, in all the sectors followed up by "Valor 1000" income grew above inflation and in six of them income grew more than 20%: Agriculture (27.3%), Construction and Engineering (26.8%), Cars and Parts (23.5%), Retail (22.6%), Telecommunications (21.4%) and Wholesale and Foreign Trade (20.3%). In the ranking of the one thousand largest companies the advance of the car makers becomes clear in a year marked by records in sales. "Valor 1000" also classifies the largest companies according to the region of the country. For the first time since 2003, the companies of the South Region were able to increase their share in the total income of the thousand greatest: from 12% in 2006 to 13.3% in 2007. It was the only growth among all the regions, motivated mainly by the good performance of agribusiness-related companies. From the 25 sector champions "Valor 1000", São Paulo is the State that shelters most of them, 12 in total, followed by Paraná and Rio de Janeiro (three each) and Espirito Santo (two). The states of Bahia, Minas Gerais, Pará, Pernambuco and the Federal District have one each.